Material conveyer for furnaces



April 7, 1931. T. PE 1,799,956

MATERIAL 'GONVEYER FOR FURNACES Filed Jan. 13, 1928 2 Sheets-Sheet l gwuewtoz Frail/i Z Copey i mom Patented Apr. 7, 1931 1 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE FBA'N K T. COPE, OF SALEM, OHIO, ASSIGNOB TO THE ELECTRIC- FUBNACE COMPANY, OF SALEM, OHIO, A CORPORATION OF OHIO MATERIAL CONVEYER FOR FURNACES Application filed January 13, 1928.

The invention relates to furnaces for heating small articles such as bolts, nuts, screws and small machine parts of irregular shape which cannot be easily handled in a furnace of usual construction; and more particularly to mechanism for conveying such articles through the furnace.

The object of the improvement is to provide a heating furnace having conveyer mech- 19 anism for continuously passing such small articles through the furnace at the desired speed.

The above and other objects may be attained by providing a tray extending longitudinally through the furnace and slightly inclined from the charging toward charge end thereof, means being provided for rocking the tray transversely, whereby articles placed upon the tray at the charging end of the furnace will be moved back and forth across the tray in a zigzag path toward the discharge end thereof by the rocking movement of the tray.

An embodiment of the invention is illus- 2 trated in the accompanying drawings, in

which Figure 1 is a vertical longitudinal section through the furnace provided with the improved material conveyer, taken substantially on the line 11, Fig. 2;

Fig. 2, a transverse section through the furnace, taken substantially on the line 2-2, Fig. 1; and

Fig. 3, a plan sectional view on the line 33, Fig. 2.

Similar numerals refer to similar parts throughout the drawings.

The furnace may be of any usual and well known construction heated by any suitable heating means and is shown conventionally as comprising the hearth 1, side walls 2, end walls 3 and roof 4: of fire brick or the like heated as by the electric resistance elements 5.

This furnace structure may be supported above the level of the floor as by the I-beams 6 and uprights 7 whereby the mechanism for operating the material conveyer may be located beneath the furnace, although it should be understood that this mechanism may be located at one side of the furnace or above the the dis- Serial No. 246,449.

same without departing from the invention,

charging to the discharge end of the furnace.

This tray may be slightly concave transversely and provided at its edges with the upright flanges 9 for preventing the material from being accidentally displaced over the edge thereof.

As best shown in Fig. 1, it will be seen that the tray is slightly inclined longitudinally from the charging opening 10, in one end wall of the furnace to the discharge opening 11 in the opposite end wall thereof.

This tray may be mounted in any suitable 'manner for transverse tilting movement and for the purpose of illustration, the same is shown provided with a depending centrally located rib 12 which may be provided at its lower edge with the enlarged rounded head portion 13 mounted for transverse rolling or sliding movement in the channel or groove 14 formed in the upper side of the supporting member 15.

'Any usual andwell known mechanism may be provided for rocking the tray and for the purpose of illustration, the same is shown conventionally as comprising a shaft 16 located below one side of the furnace and journaled in bearings 17 Eccentrics 18 may be fixed at spaced in 'tervals upon the shaft 16, each eccentric being surrounded by an eccentric band 19 which is fixed to one end of the link or connecting rod 20, the upper end of which may be pivoted as at 21 to an ear 22 upon the tray.

This shaft may be continuously rotated at the desired speed as through the gearing 23 operatively connecting the shaft with a motor or other source of power indicated at 24.

Each of the connecting rods 20 may be located through a slot 25 in the hearth of the furnace which may be of only sufficient size to permit of free movement of the connecting rod.

A discharge chute 26 may be 7 located through the discharge opening 11 in position to receive the heated articles from the tray and convey the same out of the furnace.

In the operation of the furnace, small articles to be heated or heat treated are charged upon the upper end of the tray through the charging opening 10 and as the tray is continuously rocked transversely, preferably at a slow speed, by means of mechanism such as illustrated and described, the tray will alternately assume the positions shown in broken lines at A and B in Fig. 2 of the drawings.

This continuous transverse rocking or til ing of the tray will cause the articles thereon to move in a zigzag path, as indicated by the broken line C in Fig. 3, toward the discharge end of the furnace, the articles finally passing from the t -ay onto the discharge chute 26.

It should be understood that the length and angle of the tray and the speed of tilting movement thereof may be varied to produce the desired rate of travel of material through the furnace.

It is also pointed out that although, for the purpose of illustration, the tray is located at a certain angle and mechanism is shown conventionally for tilting the same, these features may be considerably changed without departin from the invention. which consists prin'larily in providing an inclined trans versely rocking tray for slowly feeding the material in a zigzag path through the furnace.

From the above it will be obvious that a very simple and effective material conveyer is provided for handling small machine parts of irregular shape and conveying the same through a heating, annealing or heat treating furnace at the desired rate of speed.

I claim:

1. A furnace having a heating chamber. an inclined supporting member in the heating chamber, a tray provided with a depending rib movably mounted upon said supporting member and means for transversely rocking the tray upon the supporting member in order to more material thereon in a zigzag path along the tray.

2. A furnace having a heating chamber, an inclined supporting member in the heating chamber, a tray provided with adepending rib movably mounted upon said supporting member and means for transversely reciproeating the tray upon the supporting member in order to move material thereon in a Zigzag path along the tray.

3. A furnace having a heating chamber, an inclined supporting member in the heating chamber, a tray inclined toward one end of the furnace and provided with a depending rib transversely movably mounted upon said supporting member, a link connected to the tray and means for reciprocating the link.

at. A furnace having a heating chamber, a tray mounted within the heating chamber and inclined toward one end of the furnace, means located externally of the heating chamher for imparting motion to said tray relative to the furnace, and means extending through the furnace for connecting the tray with said motion imparting means for trans versely reciprocating said tray.

5. A furnace having a heating chamber, a tray mounted within the heating chamber and inclined toward one end of the furnace, means located externally of the heating chamber for imparting motion to said tray relative to the furnace, and means extending through the furnace for connecting the tray with said motion imparting means for transversely rocking and reciprocating said tray.

In testimony that I claim the above, I have hereunto subscribed my name.

FRANK T. COPE. 

